Comptia Security+ Article on Firewall Security Advantages and Firewall Functions

The firewall protects an internal network fromuse this field. Attackers can use this field in conjunction
malicious hackers or software on an external network.with IP spoofing to redirectnetwork packets to their
Firewalls filter potentially harmful incoming or outgoingsystems.
traffic. Firewalls are used to subdivide internal• Application Filtering: This device will intercept
networks on the Internet. It also protects individualconnections and performs security inspections. The
computers. The five services that firewalls provide arefirewall acts as a proxy for connections between the
packet filtering, application filtering, proxy server,internal and external network. The firewall enforce
circuit-level, and stateful inspection.access control rules specific to the application. It is also
• Packet Filtering: A packet filtering firewall checksuse to check incoming e-mails for virus attachments.
each packet crossing the device. It also inspects theThese firewalls are often called e-mail gateways.
packet headers of all network packets going through• Proxy Server: A proxy server takes on
the firewall.responsibility for providing services between the
Source IP Address: It identifies the host that is sendinginternal and external network. Proxy server can be
the packet. Attackers can modify thisfield in anused to hide the addressing scheme of the internal
attempt to conduct IP spoofing. Firewalls arenetwork. It can also be used to filter requests based
configured to reject packets that arrive atthe externalon the protocol and address requested.
interface, that is either an erroneous host configuration• Circuit-Level: A circuit-level firewall controls TCP
or an attempt at IP spoofing.and UDP ports, but doesn't watch the datatransferred
Destination IP Address: This is the IP address that theover them. If a connection is established, the traffic is
packet is trying to reach.transferred without any furtherchecking.
IP Protocol ID: Each IP header has a protocol ID that• Stateful Inspection: An inspection firewall works at
follows. For example, Transmissionthe Network layer. It assesses the IP
Control Protocol (TCP) is ID 6, User Datagram Protocolheaderinformation. It also monitors the state of each
(UDP) is ID 17, and Internet Controlconnection. Connections are rejected if they attempt
Message Protocol (ICMP) is ID 1.any actions that are not standard for the given
Fragmentation Flags: Firewalls examine and forward orprotocol. These listed firewall features can be
reject fragmented packets. Asuccessful fragmentationimplemented in combination by a given firewall
attack can allow an attacker to send packets thatimplementation. Placing a lot of firewalls in series is a
could compromise aninternal host.common practice to increase security at the network
IP Options Setting: This field is used for diagnostics.perimeter.
The firewall is configured to drop networkpackets that